


Christmas carols, gifts and ghosts

by 365paperdolls



Series: Christmas Carols, gifts and ghosts [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Blanket Permission, Christmas, F/F, Ghosts, Inspired by A Christmas Carol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-09-16 16:10:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16957212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/365paperdolls/pseuds/365paperdolls
Summary: Sara wants to find the perfect Christmas present for her girlfriend but first has to track down the three ghosts from A Christmas Carol.





	1. Ghost of Christmas Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara, Charlie and Constantine go back in time to Charles Dickens' house to find the Ghost of Christmas Past. Sara finds a gift for Ava.

“So I’ve been meaning to ask you, what do you want for Christmas?” Sara asks Ava as she bounces into Ava’s office. 

“Ummmmmm, I don’t mind something cheap and easy to buy.” Ava states without looking up from her paperwork.

“Tricky… but I’ve got two days so after I make a quick trip to locate three ghosts I should have enough time to find a gift that meets your very specific requirements.” She jokes.

“Good luck. Are you busy now?”

“I wasn’t joking about having to locate ghosts. Zari, Ray and Mick are preoccupied with a centaur in the future so unfortunately I have to go now to help Charlie and Constantine track down three fugitives but you are more than welcome to come with me. These magical creatures are right up your alley.” Sara teases.

Ava looks at her schedule hopefully and sighs.

“I would love to but I have heaps of work to do including all this paperwork that I need to complete before a meeting with Hank in 20 minutes and I don’t want to get our timelines out of sync this close to Christmas.” Ava rambles. 

Sara puts her hands on her girlfriend’s neck and begins to massage it softly.

“It’s ok Aves, I wish there was some way I could help.”

“You could start by not messing up history this close to Christmas.” Ava says seriously causing Sara to stop massaging her. 

“I’ll try Aves.”

“Thank you my love but I was kidding.” She kisses Sara playfully.

Sara laughs but is interrupted by her phone ringing. She checks the screen name; it’s Gideon. 

“It’s Gideon so that’s my queue to go fix history. I guess I probably won’t see you until Christmas Eve.” She says sadly whilst pulling her girlfriend into a hug. 

“Yeah but on the bright side the next time we see each other it will be just you and me for four days with no interruptions from the Bureau or the Legends or Gideon or any magical creatures.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” Sara replies.

They kiss one last time before Sara opens a time breach and walks back onto the Waverider. 

*** 

“No Ava?” Constantine asks.

Sara shakes her head in response. “No, she is snowed in at the Bureau both figuratively and literally and figuratively. Which is a pity in more ways than one because she’s been reading ‘A Christmas Carol’ every night in December so she both would have loved and been useful in what we are about to do. Speaking of which, have you located the other two ghosts?”

“The ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future have those names for a reason. They don’t like each other so they separate through time relative to each other. The Ghost of Christmas Past goes back in time, the Ghost of Christmases Present goes more forward in time than the Ghost of Christmas Past and the Ghost of Christmases Future goes future forward in time than the other two.” Charlie explains. “We have located one which we presume is the Ghost of Christmas Past in 1843, which coincidentally is the Christmas after Charles Dickens publishes ‘A Christmas Carol’

“And the other two?”

“Gideon is working on tracking them down but ghosts are especially hard to trace due to their ability to be invisible.”

“Ok, thanks Charlie. Gideon let me know when you locate the other two ghosts.”

“I will Captain.”

“The rest of us are going to England.”

*** 

They land the Waverider in a cobblestone alleyway around the corner from Charles Dickens’ house. Outside four of his children are playing happily. 

“How exactly are we going to convince this Charles Dickens’ guy to let us into his house. Are we just going to knock on the door and say ‘hi happy holidays please let us in your house’.” Charlie says sarcastically.

Sara notices a small gift shop on the opposite side of the road. 

“No but we can say that we are fans.”

***

“Look love I know you haven’t bought a Christmas present for Ava yet but might I suggest that you’ll have more luck in Macy’s in 2018 than this 1800’s shop.” Constantine teases. Sara ignores him as she searches for the book.

“Excuse me do you have any copies of ‘A Christmas Carol?’” She asks the shopkeeper.

“That books been selling really well but I’ll check out the back.”

He returns approximately two minutes later. 

“You’re in luck. This is my last one.” He hands the book to Sara. 

“Nice choice, this book has been incredibly popular and my wife absolutely adores it.” The shopkeeper tells them. He then leans over the bench. “The author lives across the road, number 48. If you ask nicely he might be willing to sign it for you.” He whispers to Sara.

“Thank you.”

“Is that all you wish to buy?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“That will be two pounds and three shillings please.”

Sara glares at Constantine who sighs and rummages through his pockets. He pulls out from them some slime, a dragon scale and a miniaturised version of the children’s book ‘Pants’.

“I’m sure I have some change in here somewhere.” He mutters before finally pulling out the correct amount of money. He hands it to the shopkeeper along with the slime. 

“Cheers mate.” He says to the shopkeeper before walking out of the shop. 

Sara takes the book out of the confused shopkeeper’s hands. “Thanks for the tip!” She says to him as she races after Constantine.

 ***

They knock on the door to Charles Dickens’ house and Catherine, his wife opens the door. She glances at the book in Sara’s hands. 

“Good afternoon, are you here to talk to Charles?”

“Yes please.”

“He’s in his study, I’ll just go and get him.”

“If he’s busy we can come back later.”

“No, no it’s ok, Charles loves interacting with his fans, he won’t mind.” She reassures. “Wait here.”

She races away and returns two minutes later with Charles Dickens.”

“Good afternoon, I see you have my new book. Did you enjoy it?” He inquires.

“Yes it was so inspiring and Christmassy.”

“That’s splendid. What was your favourite part?”

“Ummmm-” Sara thinks back to watching The Muppet’s version years ago, which she had wanted to watch with Ava but couldn’t yet because her girlfriend hadn’t finished the book yet and wanted to avoid spoilers. 

“My favourite part was when Scrooge learnt the true meaning of Christmas is charity.” She explains.

Satisfied, Charles nods. “You are one of the few people who has picked up on the meaning of the novel.”

Charles offers to sign Sara’s copy of the book. She hands it over to him.

Charlie emerges disguised as a house guest she shakes her head at Sara to confirm that she hadn't found the ghost in Charles' house. 

As soon as Charlie has left Sara notices a ghostly figure appear above Charles Dickens’ head. He pulls funny faces and gestures for Sara to remain quiet. 

“What is your name?”

“Sar-“ She starts but then stops herself the ghost is shaking his head. “Ava. My name is Ava.” The ghost smiles with approval. 

“It was nice to meet you Ava and friends.” He turns around. 

“Wait!” She calls out. “Before you go, can you tell me your favorite part of the book now that you know mine?” She begs.

He considers it for a second.

“Very well.” He then launches into a twenty minute explanation about a part that definitely was not in The Muppet’s adaption. 

Halfway through the explanation the ghost waves at Sara and then disappears. 

Sara continues to pretend to be interested in what Charles is saying whilst trying to come up with a believable excuse so that she could join her team. 

*** 

“So it just disappeared?” Charlie double checked with Sara when they are all back on the Waverider.

“Yep.” She confirmed.

“Captain, I can’t find any reference to the Ghost of Christmas Past anywhere throughout the timeline but I have managed to locate the Ghost of Christmas Present.”

“That’s good Gideon, where is it?”

“2018, Washington D.C, the Time Bureau main headquarters.”


	2. The Ghost of Christmas present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava discovers the second ghost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise that this took so long to post.

The Time Bureau, 2018

Nate barges into Ava's office carrying a stack of papers that come up to his head. As it wobbles dangerously he quickly places it onto Ava's desk. 

"My dad gave me this budget analysis to pass onto you." He explains to her whilst gesturing towards the paper. 

"Another budget proposal?" She groans and picks up the top few papers from the stack. This causes the entire stack to topple and the papers to fly all around her office. 

"Ahhhhh." She lets out a small scream as she goes to pick up the papers. 

"Sorry." She composes herself.

"Director Sharpe, if I may when did you last have a break?" He asks as he helps her collect the rest of the papers.

She thinks for a minute. "I had lunch about three hours ago."

Nate looks at the top page.

"I have clearance to review this, don't I?"

She looks at the paper. "Yes, why?"

"You go take a break and I'll handle this."

"No I really shouldn't." She protests.

"Is there any Christmas shopping you haven't had a chance to do yet?"

"I suppose I could go get Sara a present. Are you sure though?"

"Go, i'll be fine."

Ava goes to leave but her phone rings causing her to stop in the doorway.

She picks it up. "Hello Director Sharpe speaking."

"Hi Director Sharpe." Mona whispers nervously into the phone.

"Mona, what's wrong?"

"Gary asked me to get a confiscated item from the Time Room which I did but then when I was getting the box down, I don't think I knocked anything but I must have because the entire shelf fell down and I don't think any items broke but a lot of them fell out of their containers and I figured out where some of them went but not all of them-"

"Mona it's ok, Nate and I are coming to help." 

Nate gives her a confused look. Ava gestures for him to follow her. 

* 

They arrive to find Mona surrounded by miscellaneous objects that date from the Jurassic period to thousands of year in the future. Nate, Mona and Ava set to work sorting the objects into the appropriate buckets. Ava found the the process calming and a nice change from all the paperwork she had been doing lately. 

Just when she thinks they are finished she realises that there is one missing. According to the list the object is from the 2000's and is just described as a clothing item. She checks behind the cupboard in the room. That's when she sees it or rather she feels its presence first. The Ghost of Christmas Present, floating behind the cupboard. It doesn't acknowledge her presence, instead it stares down at the missing object sitting on the ground. She picks it up and examines it in awe.

It couldn't be... 

"Ava?" Sara calls out. 

Ava slips the object into her pocket. The ghost looks at her straight in the eyes, smiles and then disappears. 


	3. Christmas Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara and Ava celebrate Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and Sara and Ava finally have a moment to themselves. They spend the day in Ava's apartment and manage to avoid taking work-related phone calls. The first time work comes up in their conversation is at sunset.

"Did you ever find the third ghost?" Ava asks. 

"Not yet we'll keep looking in the new year. " Sara explains. "Do you want to open your present now?" She then asks eager to change the subject.

"Sure, but only if I can give you yours too."

Sara nods.

Both women then reach into their bags and get out their respective gifts. They then hand them to each other. 

They both unwrap them at the same time.

Ava manages to unwrap hers quicker revealing the 'A Christmas Carol' book. 

Sara notices this.

"Open it." She insists.

Ava does, revealing the inscription that Charles Dickens had written.

"To Ava, always remember the true meaning of Christmas, Charles..." She pauses and looks at her girlfriend with confusion. 

"Sara is this?"

"I know this probably breaks at least five Time Bureau protocols but I needed to get that book inscribed anyway so that we could track down the first ghost." Sara rambles.

" I'll check but it should be fine. Thank you so much, I love it. "

She pulls her girlfriend in for a hug. She then cups Sara's face and kisses her softly. 

When they break away, Sara focuses on the present sitting on her lap half opened.

Sara begins to open the present revealing a familiar black mask. 

"Is this?"

"Laurel's." Ava confirms Sara's suspicions. 

Tears fill Sara's eyes. Ava pulls her in for a hug again.

"Thank you." Sara says softly as Ava wipes away her tears.

"You aren't the only one who broke Time Bureau protocols." Ava admits.

They continue to celebrate the rest of Christmas forgetting about the third ghost which they wouldn't get a chance to see until years later... 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of this story. I apologise that it took so long to post. I am writing a one-shot sequel which I will hopefully post soon. My tumblr is https://365paperdolls.tumblr.com.


End file.
